Madoff to Skip Son's Funeral to Protect Family Privacy

By DIANA B. HENRIQUES

Published: December 14, 2010

Bernard L. Madoff announced Monday, through his lawyer, that he would not seek to attend funeral services held for his son Mark, who committed suicide early Saturday morning, ''out of consideration for the family's privacy.''

According to his lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, Mr. Madoff said that he would be conducting a private service at the federal prison facility in North Carolina, where he is serving a 150-year sentence for running a Ponzi scheme that wiped out more than $64 billion in wealth from his clients' accounts.

The Bureau of Prisons says inmates can apply for permission to attend family funerals, which is granted on a case-by-case basis.

Mark Madoff, the older of Mr. Madoff's two sons, was found dead in his downtown Manhattan apartment on Saturday, the second anniversary of the day his father was arrested for running his enormous Ponzi scheme.

Law enforcement officials said that Mark Madoff's body was found hanging from a black dog leash attached to a metal beam on the living room ceiling and that there was no evidence of foul play.

A person in close contact with the family who had spoken with Mark Madoff frequently in the last few weeks said Saturday that he had been in ''an increasingly fragile state of mind'' as the anniversary of his father's arrest approached. This person said Mr. Madoff had expressed both continuing bitterness toward his father and anxiety about a series of lawsuits that were filed against him; his brother, Andrew; and other family members.

Mark Madoff was also said to be upset at some recent news coverage speculating that criminal charges were still likely to be filed against him and his brother, according this person, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the family.

Charges have not been filed against any of the immediate Madoff family members, and their lawyer has said publicly that neither Mark Madoff nor his brother has ever been notified by prosecutors that they were the subjects of a criminal investigation.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.